Picture quality is stunning,especially with DVD's

Expensive and heavy

I'm really suprised at the number of people who complain about how bad this set is,and yet,they BUY IT! This just doesn't make sense. Considering the cost of the set I would,and did,spend quite a bit of time comparing it to other sets before deciding to purchace it. I agree that the set is expensive,and perhaps a bit overpriced,but this is the most refined picture I have ever seen on a NTSC set. Scan lines? Of course you can see them if you really look for them at close range,but even then,they don't jump out at you at all. I'm no vidiophile,and don't spend a lot of time squinting at the set trying to detect very subtle defects that aren't even noticable when enjoying a movie,or just watching a favorite TV show,but after reading some of these posts,I tried. Nope,I looked real hard,and just can't see a damn thing wrong with this TV. I'm not saying that the people describing problems with the TV are imagining things,but if the problems were that obvious,I would think they would have noticed them durring the compairison stage of the purchase decision. Maybe I just got lucky,and ended up with a great set. Who knows? Inconsistant quality control? I just havn't experienced any of the problems described. Because of the high cost (maybe a bit too high) I'll give it three stars for value,and four overall.

Similar Products Used:

None

Everything!

The characters seems to be blurry no matter what setting I used.

This TV is awesome especially for the price I paid at $1400 bucks. For those who have gripes about scan lines, watching VHS tapes, etc. why don't you try watching the same show in a 40" projector from any brand after using the 36XBR for a month. You will always go back to the XBR. There is nothing out there better than this execept for HDTV or the XBR400. I've read somebody gripe about watching VHS tapes on this type of TV. I had no problems. This one is absolutely clear.

If you are married and have this TV, when you have a fight you'll notice that either one doesn't mind sleeping the family room couch where the TV is located. So if my wife boots me out of the bed, I quickly rush to the the family room, turn on the TV, and use the wireless headphone.

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1992 20" Sony TV

Let me start off by saying thank you to our customers for all of the great reviews you have given us on this site and others. We have been informed that some people are having trouble locating us on their quest to order the famed CAVC/Canare component video cables that everybody is raving about, so we are leaving that information here at the bottom of this page. Several of us at CAVC own this WEGA and feel that when set up properly it displays the best in an NTSC picture. Getting this set to really shine does require some work though. We at CAVC invite you to give us a call or drop us an e-mail for any questions that you may have regarding this TV or any other questons you may have. We offer this help to anyone. you do not have to place an order with us to get our help for your A/V needs.

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You can contact us at Custom Audo/Video Connections by calling (830)625-6745 or by dropping us an email at CAVC@aol.com. Thank you again for all the positive feedback!

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Picture Quality, Audio

Overall Weight

I have yet to experience any of the problems that have been discussed below. I was afraid to purchase it because of the reviews, but I am glad that I did not listen!

The picture quality is excellent with my cable system, but the TV is amazing when I connected my DVD. And guess what, I even used Component Video Monster Cables.

Even though I wanted to get a home theater system prior to purchasing the XBR250, I really am amazed with the sound that the tv reproduces. The highs are extemely clear.

The lesson that I learned is that you should not listen to everyone here. Go and buy one for yourself. I am really glad that I did.

I recently took the advice of some of the other reviewers on this panel and ordered the Canare component video cables from Custom Audio Video Connectons. I'll start out by saying that these cables are superb, all the way from their appearance to their performance, I could not be happier. When I ordered my cables, the gentleman at CAVC told me that my picture would look even better if I had a technician calibrate the set. He also told me to have the technician dissconnect the wire responsible for the velocity scan modulation and my pic would look even better. Well the ISF tech came over to my house and calibrated my set for me and when I asked him to dissconnect the velocity scan modulation wire, which he did, and the picture became even better than before. All the "ringing" artifacts that were around objects were gone. Everything looks much cleaner now. The ISF tech was even shocked. Thanks CAVC for the advice.

Not having a properly calibrated set along with using cheap wires to hook it to your dvd player. High price of set. For the price we (the consumers) should not have to spend even more money to get this tv to reall perform.

Now that I'm using Canares awesome cables and have my tv properly calibrated, this tv delievers all Sony's performance calims.....KILLER PICTURE! Oh yea, I almost forgot, try hooking your DSS up with composite video instead of s-video. The guys at CAVC told me that the comb filter in the Wega was better than the one in my DSS so composite would look better. Again I took their advice and guess what, they are right, it does look better.

Great TV!

Where do I get the Canare cables?

I know this is not a messege board, but please somebody tell me how I can get the Canare component video cables everyone is speaking so highly of. Are they really that good? How much were they? If anybody can point me in the right direction I will be very greatful.

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None

This is the best picture i have ever seen on a TV. (have not seen the new 400 series yet) Does anybody know how I can get a second set of the wireless headphones? Anybody have any experience with the Sennheiser wireless headphones?

Flat picture, excellent video quality.

Really heavy, not enough s-video in the back, could use another comp. input

I want to warn everyone that when you turn this TV on. It basically calibrates it's own magetic field in the room (not sure if that's the technical term to use). Meaning that if you leave your tv on, and decide to angle it certain ways (while its on) it WILL have discoloration all around (it's like you put speakers right up to it). This TV is meant not to be moved while its on. If you need to angle it a bit...power the unit off and then back on. Same goes if you decide to add big front speakers to your home theater. All along I thought I had a defective tv. I even called Sony repairman and he couldn't figure out the problem. He told me that it was caused by the Earth's magnetic pull (no kidding). I traded for another unit and the same problem happened again until I thought about powering the unit off and turning it back on if I swivle to another angle. It worked. I figured out why the new WEGA stands don't swivle like the old ones. I don't think Sony's repairman know about this trick so I thought I might pass it along. If you don't believe me...try it out yourself. Turn your tv on and pause on a blue or white (you'll see it better on a white) and grab the tv stand (the metal poles) and turn it to another angle and you will instally get discoloration all around!

Other than that...I don't think I saw a better tv than this one. No company can come close to the picture quality!

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Old sony 35"

looks, inputs, picture, sony name

black band and scan lines

I must say that if someone spends over $2,000 on a 36 inch tv, it should not have any flaws. however, from reading the reviews on this site, this tv certain has some. although i have not experienced the red scan lines (hope i never do), i do have that four inch black band on the left side of the screen when the screen is grey (when the screen is pure blue i noticed darker blue on the left). anyways i called sony and they sent a tech out to look at it, he did say that there were numerous complaints about this problem. however, because the problem disappears when information is sent to the screen, the problem was not fixed. really it is more annoying than anything else because it is really noticeable during dvd playback at night. even if sony had offered to take the tv back to replace it or the tube, it would really be more of a pain than it would be worth (being without tv for weeks, possible something else going wrong in transit etc), since the actual picture quality is unaffected. i also got into the service menu to and set ydc to 0 and it didn't work to fix the band problem. will need to rent video essentials disc again to see if the tv holds black better due to change.

I also ordered the canara cables for dvd. the picture on the television is truly the best that i've seen short of hdtv. during anamorphic dvd playback the tv really shines, colors are vivid, images are crisp, you really get that hdtv 3d feel with this tv. i only wish they made a 40 inch tube, with the letter box the viewing area is a little small.

the tv also looks great, the silver finish, speaker on the sides, and the flat screen really make it unusual and it looks great on and off. i had a heck of a time finding an entertainment unit to fit it in and now that i have one, i hope everyday that it doesn't collapse due to the weight of the tv.

would i buy this tv knowing all the flaws that it has? probably. or i would wait for the 400. there's nothing to guarantee that the 400 will be flawless, who knows? i love the sony name and the XBR, despite its flaws, is still the best analog tv out there.

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rca, toshiba, panasonic

Enclosure style,play anamorphic dvd´s like no other tv, in
cluding hdtv´s. Awesome video quality in some instances.

The tv lacks a second S-VHS in the back, plus the lack of
external line double possibility and overpriced in Mexico.

I am a video audio enthusiast. I wait every month for the new magazines to come and read about new products. I have waited for quite some time to have the possibility of buying
a good tv. Finally my decision was the 36xbr250.

Please,don´t misunderstand me. I am very happy with the quality of the tv images, especially in the anaphormic dvd´s
,but I am always looking for improvement. I have used the
video essentials with some very good results, but I know there is still room for improvement. I know about ISF tech-
nicians, but I have to pay a big amount to bring one to
Monterrey. The one we have in Mexico City is to expensive.
I read many of your reviews, I too have the problem of what
you called "black blanding". I have explain this to SONY in
Mexico and they say the usual, they simple have not heard
of that problem before nor the service centers here in Monterrey. That leaves me alone until I read some reviews about doing some changes yourselfs. For that I mean, disable the svm, change the parametres of hosc to 12 and
the y-dc to zero.

After these changes I figured you have to calibrated your
tv again. Using video essentials, and of course after chan-
ging these parameters first, what were your final results
as far as contrast, brighteness, color, tint, sharpness. Did
you chose NTSC STD, and in color correction, off or on. Please give number of clicks for each parameter. Also if you
decided to use instead a ISF technician, could you provide me with the same answer. I will appreciate if someone can
help me. My e-mail is: invade@mail.cmact.com

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Sony rear projection tv set and some smaller direct tv set´s
from sony.